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Your buildings insurance should be placed ‘on risk’ from the point of Exchange of Contracts. This is because the Exchange of Contracts, also known as the point of no return, makes the transaction legally binding. Essentially, you are, therefore, legally bound to purchase the property on the date agreed in the Contract.
If, in the unfortunate event that there was to be an issue, for example, a fire, you would still be required to proceed to Completion of the purchase, despite its state. Insurance should, therefore, be in place from this point, to cover all eventualities.
Where purchasing with the assistance of a mortgage, your conveyancing solicitor will require sight of your proposed insurance schedule, prior to Exchange of Contracts. This is to confirm that the same adequately meets the requirements of your lender.
The conveyancing process carried out by your conveyancing solicitor does, slightly, differ when you are buying a new build home. However, please do not worry if you are buying a new build property, as our expert conveyancing solicitors at MG Legal are all clued up when it comes to the purchasing of new build homes.
Your conveyancing solicitor at MG Legal will ensure that the process of purchasing your new build home completes smoothly and efficiently, whilst also making you aware of any potential issues, and keeping you fully updated throughout. We hope that you consider instructing our team of expert conveyancing solicitors, when you purchase your new build home. With a team of solicitors in Lancaster, conveyancing solicitors in Preston, and conveyancing solicitors in Garstang, we really are your local conveyancing solicitors.
New buyers don’t need to worry about being given a gift of money for their property purchase, however, there are some important steps you must take in order for your transaction to go smoothly:
- Your conveyancing solicitor needs to know about the gift of money. There are certain legal checks which will have to be carried out such as enquiries on the source of funds to ensure the anti-money laundering requirements are met. These checks must be carried out in every transaction.
- Tell your mortgage advisor from the outset that you are buying with the help of a gift, your mortgage lender will have to take this into account before providing you with a mortgage offer.
- Speak to the person who is gifting you the money so that they understand what will be required of them. They must be aware that the conveyancing solicitors will need to see bank statements and also evidence of their identification. You must also clarify whether the money is to be a pure gift or a private loan.
- Once a decision has been made as to whether there is to be a gift of a loan of monies your solicitor will need to establish whether the person providing the money is expecting to hold any legal interest in the property.
Our conveyancing solicitors will advise the person providing the money that they should seek independent legal advice to ensure that they are aware of the implications of giving money rather than loaning money. That said it is usually for the person providing the money to make a decision as to whether they wish to seek independent legal advice unless the Mortgage Lender insists upon it as a requirement.
Your conveyancing solicitor will also ask your gift or to complete a declaration to state that they have no interest in the property, that they will not live at the property and that they do not intend to claim an interest in the property at a later date. The reason for this is because the Mortgage Lender needs to know that their interest is secure. The Lender won’t want to risk a challenge of the ownership of the property in the event of repossession.
The gift of money cannot simply be transferred to the home buyers account months or weeks before the transaction has begun as this will come to light during the conveyancing transaction. Evidence will be required and ultimately this will delay the process.
For some people, this process of checking bank statements can feel intrusive however if this process must be followed failure to do so will have serious legal consequences.
To ensure your property purchase goes as smoothly as possible, you should ensure that your conveyancing solicitor is aware that your purchase will be aided via a Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA at the earliest opportunity. This is because there are certain procedures that are to be followed, dependent on the type of ISA being used. Our conveyancing solicitors are well experience in help to buy conveyancing, and will be able to take all necessary steps to ensure that the process goes well.
When utilising a Help to Buy ISA, your conveyancing solicitor will require that you complete a first-time buyer declaration form, confirming that you are, indeed, a first-time buyer. You can download a copy of the HM Treasury's First Time Buyer Declaration form, here.
In addition, when the time comes, your conveyancing solicitor will also require an official closing statement from the bank, confirming the account has been closed. Both are required in order to redeem the ISA bonus on your behalf.
Where purchasing with a lifetime ISA, there is a set period of time in which funds are to be requested. Usually, this is a circa thirty-day requirement in order to give sufficient notice for the drawing down of funds and redemption of the ISA bonus.
As you can see, both entail slightly different procedures, however, do involve certain time constraints. It is, therefore, imperative to advise your property conveyancing solicitor of such matters, upon commencement of the transaction.
If you are looking for a reliable first time buyer solicitor, simply get in touch with MG Legal today and hear back from a first time buyer solicitor within one working hour.
The day of Completion is the day we are all working towards, including our conveyancing solicitors, with each and every transaction – moving day.
On the day of Completion, your conveyancing solicitor sends funds to the credit of the client account of the seller’s solicitor. Once they have been received, Completion is deemed to have taken place and keys are released to you.
In order to prevent any issues, when acting for property buying clients, our conveyancing solicitors always request that any mortgage funds are released the day before the anticipated Completion date. This helps ensure that there are no delays, and Completion can take place without issue.
At MG Legal, your conveyancing solicitor will deal with all the legal aspects of a conveyancing transaction, from acceptance of an offer all the way through to completion.
From the outside, looking in, the conveyancing process can appear complex; but at MG Legal we only employ qualified conveyancing solicitors, so when you work with our team, you will have a local conveyancing solicitor working for you, that knows the process of property sales, and purchases, inside and out, to ensure all eventualities are covered, taking the stress away from you. Your conveyancing solicitor will keep you fully updated throughout the transaction, so, at every point, you are aware of exactly what is going on.
We recommend instructing a conveyancing solicitor as soon as an offer has been accepted, to ensure you can get the ball rolling as soon as possible.
You can contact our friendly team of conveyancing solicitors by emailing property@mglegal.co.uk or by telephoning your local office. As soon as you have reached out to us, we will send you an email outlining our fixed fees, including all disbursements payable, because at MG Legal there are no hidden or unexpected fees. What you see in your quote, is exactly what you pay.
Once you have received your quote, and you have confirmed you are instructing us to deal with your conveyancing transaction, you will receive your Client Care documentation in the post; or as many of our clients like to do, you can pick up your client care documentation from your local MG Legal office. One of our conveyancing solicitors will usually be in the office after hours, so we will often be here well after 5pm. The Client Care documentation includes our terms of business, and an outline of all fees payable, directly reflecting the quote you initially received.
A buy-to-let (BTL) property is one that is purchased as a second property with the sole aim of being rented out by the buyer. They can be a great investment for those in a good financial position, but many people don’t fully understand the process that goes into them.
Below, we have run through the process of acquiring a buy-to-let residential property, and any extra costs you should expect. As with any property purchase, if you cannot buy your buy-to-let property outright, you will need to apply for a mortgage. However, a standard mortgage only applies when a person is planning on living in their new property, for a BTL purchase you will require a specific buy-to-let mortgage.
Alternatively to a regular mortgage, it is not your salary as the buyer that will be the first consideration by mortgage lenders for these mortgages, but instead the potential rental income of the property at hand. Generally, lenders will require the rental income to stand at 125% of the monthly payments for the loan or mortgage.
As an example, if your potential mortgage repayment is set to be £500 per month, you would typically need to show that the rental income would be at least £625 (125% of the monthly loan repayments for the mortgage). When purchasing a buy-to-let property, we would advise that you budget more than if you were buying the same property to live in.
There are numerous key differences between the costs involved in the respective standard and buy-to-let mortgages:-
Fees tend to be a lot higher on BTL mortgages
Interests rate are generally higher on BTL mortgages
Initial deposits can be bigger on a BTL mortgage, with some requiring more than 40% down payment
Most BTL mortgages operate on an interest-only basis. This means that each month you simply pay the interest that you have acquired on the loan, and must repay the original amount of the loan in full at the end.
To learn more about buy to let property purchases, contact our specialist conveyancing solicitors online, here, and hear back from a solicitor within one working hour.
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